The Poster Brief

 You find a job at Student Job Search that asks for a university student to create a poster to help a group of year 13 students learn new study techniques to facilitate their preparation for NCEA assessments. You have recently read a couple of interesting articles about SAFMEDS, a method used to help people learn information using flashcards and think this might be a good technique to show the students. You decide to create a clear, informative poster to help them to understand some of the previous research that has been done using the SAFMEDS procedure. You even go so far as to demonstrate the efficacy of this procedure by collecting data on yourself.

The year 13 students don’t have a background in psychology. As you create your poster, remember to explain key terms and concepts clearly in accessible language and avoid using psychological lingo where possible. Failure to do so could mean the students find your poster difficult to understand.

Your poster needs to include the following subsections:

• An introduction
• A Method
• Results
• A Discussion
• A list of references used

Your poster also needs to include a title, your name, your student ID number and an email address so we can deliver your feedback to you once your poster has been marked.

The poster needs to fit on an A3 sized PowerPoint slide. The minimum font size you can use on your poster is 12-point font (you can include larger font for headings). We have provided you with two templates (one portrait and one landscape – you can choose which orientation you like best) for you to use. Feel free to change the size and locations of the text boxes, add colour and get a bit creative with the layout of the poster if you wish.

The marks for your poster are approximately distributed as follows:

27.5% for the introduction

10% for the method

20% for the results

27.5% for the discussion

5% for your referencing (in-text and the reference list)

10% for overall presentation (5% of this will be for the clarity of your presentation, which is how your marker can find important information on your poster, and the other 5% relates to the clarity of your communication. Is your poster written with your target audience in mind?).

Below is an overview of the information you should include in each subsection of your poster.

Introduction:

 Begin your introduction with a sentence or two describing what SAFMEDS is and why it may be useful for these students to learn.

Next, briefly describe some of the previous research that has been completed assessing SAFMEDS. You need to include information about both of the RPE readings. There is no need for you to find additional resources for this poster.

Please include the following information. Explain key terms and keep your language accessible:

• Write a sentence or two describing what the study was trying to assess.
• Include a description of the major findings from each study.
• Give a brief description of the researcher’s main conclusions.

Finish up your introduction with a sentence describing the aim of your study.

 Method:

 Next you need to describe the method that you used to collect your data. The students may want to use SAFMEDS to help them with their NCEA assessments – make sure that they have enough information to do this successfully.

You may choose to use a diagram to help you do this. Those of you who completed PSYC121 will remember that the method section of a lab report typically includes 4 subsections; design, participants, materials and procedure. For your poster, do not include information about the design or the participants.

Please note that we have a copy of the information sheet where we described the method to you and we also have a copy of the slides from the labs – paraphrase this information and present it in your own words, not only will this help you to avoid plagiarism, it will also save you from using half your poster describing the method!. There is no need to include all the terms and definitions you used in your SAFMED deck,  just tell the students that you used definitions of key terms used in psychology – include 1 sample definition and term so they get the idea of the kind of material you were learning.

The Results

 You will need to present a line graph that depicts your score across the 15 timed SAFMED sessions. This graph should be presented using APA formatting conventions.

• Below is an example graph using Amy’s data from her SAFMEDS training showing the key elements that you need to include in your figure. Please note that Amy was using a different number of cards to you and was learning to identify dog breeds, not definitions from research methods in psychology so this is just an example – you will need to graph your own data for your poster!
• Amy has made a short video showing you how to produce your figure using excel. There is a link to this in the second lab module. We suggest that you use Microsoft excel to create your figure – as a VUW student you can download this for free. If you can’t access excel, then that’s ok – you can use another program or even draw your figure by hand if you’d like.
• In addition to presenting your figure you need to briefly describe what the data show us in words. Is there evidence of learning across trials? Remember that SAFMEDS doesn’t just give you information about accuracy, it also gives you an indication of your fluency.

You also need to include your pre-test and post-test scores. What do they indicate about whether SAFMEDS training helped you to learn?

The Discussion:

 Describe how your findings compare to the findings from the RPE readings. Consider:

• Were your findings similar those from the RPE readings? Or were they different?
• What could these similarities or differences suggest? For example, are there variations in the method used in your study and the RPE readings that could help explain any differences? If your findings are similar to those from the previous literature, what does this suggest about the SAFMEDS procedure?

 Identify and describe 1 limitation that may have impacted your data.

• Explain why the issue you identified was a problem.
• How did influence your data?
• What could you do in the future to fix/overcome this problem?

 Given your findings and those from the previous literature, briefly describe a next logical study that could be undertaken to assess the efficacy of SAFMEDS. Explain what you would do and why it is that you would choose to do this.

 Complete your poster with a sentence or two outlining your thoughts on the value of SAFMEDS as a learning tool.

Plagiarism, In-text citations and Reference Lists

Ensure that you paraphrase information from the previous literature carefully and make sure that your poster is entirely your own work. Remember that your poster will be submitted to Turn-it-in (a database that detects common material between your assignment and other sources). For details on VUW’s plagiarism policy, please follow this link: https://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/exams/integrity-plagiarism

Make sure that you use in-text citations to show where the information in the body of the text came from and include a reference list with the details of the 2 RPE readings.

To gain practice for future assignments we want your in-text citations and reference list to be presented in APA format.

For information on APA format, how to paraphrase and how to avoid plagiarism, please see the Plagiarism and strategies to help you avoid it document posted in the second lab module on BB.